IUCN MEMBER

Ajtte, the Swedish museum for Saami culture and the mountain region

Ájtte is the main museum in Sweden for the Saami culture and the mountainous region. As such, it has the responsibility to further knowledge about the Saami culture and the mountain region in Sapmie - the lands both inhabited in times past and today by the saami. The saami are the indigenous people of Sweden, Norway and Finland. The task is fulfilled by managing the collections, field work, exhibitions, archives and library, seminars and collaboration and research. The museum has since it´s inception been used as a meeting place and for for discussions by Saami organizations and individuals. The name Ájtte derives from the Saami word for "storage place", and was intended to convey the dual purposes of both storing the material and immaterial cultural and natural heritage of the Saami people and spreading that to new generations thus promoting traditional knowledge. One part of the activities of Ájtte is to maintain the Arctic garden (Fjällträdgården) which is a Bothanical garden with plants indigenous in the mountain region as part of the Biological heritage. In the exhibitions, the close relation between the Saami, the reindeer and the landscape is being described